Nature, waste thy wonders on such men?Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes45 In variegated maze of mount and glen. Ah, me! what hand can pencil guide, or pen, To follow half on which the eye dilates Through views more dazzling unto mortal kenay Than those whereof such things the Bard relates, Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium's gates.
XIX.
The horrid crags, by toppling convent crowned,az The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep, The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrowned, The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep, The tender azure46 of the unruffled deep, The orange tints that gild the greenest bough, The torrents that from cliff to valley leap,ba The vine on high, the willow branch below, Mixed in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow.
XX.
Then slowly climb the many-winding way,
And frequent turn to linger as you go,
From loftier rocks new loveliness survey,
And rest ye at "Our Lady's house of Woe;"47 2.B. Where frugal monks their little relics show, And sundry legends to the stranger tell: Here impious men have punished been, and lo! Deep in yon cave Honorius long did dwell, In hope to merit Heaven by making earth a Hell.
XXI.
And here and there, as up the crags you spring,
Mark many rude-carved crosses near the path:48 Yet deem not these Devotion's offering— These are memorials frail of murderous wrath: For wheresoe'er the shrieking victim hath Pour'd forth his blood beneath the assassin's knife, Some hand erects a cross of mouldering lath; And grove and glen with thousand such are rife Throughout this purple land, where Law secures not life. 3.B.
XXII.
On sloping mounds, or in the vale beneath,49 Are domes where whilome kings did make repair; But now the wild flowers round them only breathe: Yet ruined Splendour still is lingering there. And yonder towers the Prince's palace fair: There thou too, Vathek! England's wealthiest son,bb50 Once formed thy Paradise, as not aware When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done,bc Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun.
XXIII.
Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan,
Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow:
But now, as if a thing unblest by Man,bd Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as Thou! Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow To Halls deserted, portals gaping wide: Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied;be Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide!
XXIV.
Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened! 4.B. Oh! dome displeasing unto British eye! With diadem hight Foolscap, lo! a Fiend, A little Fiend that scoffs incessantly, There sits in parchment robe arrayed, and bybf His side is hung a seal and sable scroll, Where blazoned glare names known to chivalry,bg And sundry signatures adorn the roll,bh Whereat the Urchin points and laughs with all his soul.bi
XXV.
Convention is the dwarfish demon styled51 That foiled the knights in Marialva's dome: Of brains (if brains they had) he them beguiled, And turned a nation's shallow joy to gloom. Here Folly dashed to earth the victor's plume, And Policy regained what arms had lost: For chiefs like ours in vain may laurels bloom! Woe to the conquering, not the conquered host, Since baffled Triumph droops on Lusitania's coast.
XXVI.
And ever since that martial Synod met,
Britannia sickens, Cintra! at thy name;
And folks in office at the mention fret,bj And fain would blush, if blush they could, for shame. How will Posterity the deed proclaim! Will not our own and fellow-nations sneer, To view these champions cheated of their fame, By foes in fight o'erthrown, yet victors here, Where Scorn her finger points through many a coming year?
XXVII.
So deemed the Childe, as o'er the mountains he
Did take his way in solitary guise:
Sweet was the scene, yet soon he thought to flee,
More restless than the swallow in the skies:bk Though here awhile he learned to moralise, For Meditation fixed at times on him; And conscious Reason whispered to despise His early youth, misspent in maddest whim; But as he gazed on truth his aching eyes grew dim.52
XXVIII.
To horse! to horse! he quits, for ever quits53 A scene of peace, though soothing to his soul:bl Again he rouses from his moping fits, But seeks not now the harlot and the bowl.bm Onward he flies, nor fixed as yet the goal Where he shall rest him on his pilgrimage; And o'er him many changing scenes must roll Ere toil his thirst for travel can assuage,bn Or he shall calm his breast, or learn experience sage.
XXIX.
